Five Drones Breach Airspace Overnight Hours Before Moldova's 35th Independence Day

Five separate drones crossed into Moldovan airspace between 03:56 and 06:02 local time on August 27, during a fresh Russian aerial attack on Ukraine, hours before Moldova marked 35 years of independence. All five crossings occurred along the southeastern Ștefan Vodă frontier, over or near the villages of Bălăbănești, Palanca, Starokozache, Căplani, Carahasani, Olănești, Purcari, Răscăieți and Pervomaisc, with individual flights lasting up to 12 minutes before returning to Ukrainian airspace; two of the five disappeared from monitoring systems while still inside Moldovan jurisdiction, including one that vanished from radar at 04:24 near Pervomaisc in the Transnistrian sector, where Chisinau has no ground access to investigate. President Maia Sandu called the overflights "intimidation," saying "our airspace was repeatedly violated by Russian drones" just hours before the independence anniversary, while Moldova's Foreign Affairs Ministry called it "a serious violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova." Despite the incursions, Moldova held its Independence Day military parade in Chisinau as planned, with Sandu reviewing more than 2,000 troops and roughly 100 pieces of equipment alongside Romanian President Nicusor Dan.